One-of-a-kind Goodyear truck

There was an awful lot to see and do at the 2012 IAA Commercial Vehicle show, held this past September 20 to 27 in Hanover, Germany.

Not that I’d know firsthand as I didn’t get to go. However, it is the world’s most important trade fair for mobility, transport and logistics, with the latest innovations from the commercial vehicle industry on display from manufacturers and suppliers from around the world.

One of the “innovations” I heard about was a one-of-a-kind truck that Goodyear had on display at the IAA. Manufactured especially for the show, it was a 1:1 scale LEGO truck.

The Goodyear LEGO truck is about 8 feet wide, 11-1/2 feet high and slightly more than 8 feet long. Its gross weight is nearly 1,632 pounds, making it among the largest LEGO models in the world.

Around 250,000 LEGO pieces were used to build the truck, which took about 410 hours to build. The truck was partially assembled off-site and then transported to the show in bigger pieces. These blocks were then assembled at the show.

Now that the IAA is over, what is Goodyear going to do with its singularly unique truck?

The company is auctioning it on eBay to benefit the European commercial vehicle drivers' initiative DocStop, which offers professional drivers medical care while they are traveling.

The aim of the initiative is to provide every truck driver in Europe with quick and easy access to a doctor if needed. Thanks to DocStop, European truck and bus drivers who need medical attention can drive directly with their vehicles to a DocStop partner (doctor's surgery, hospital, etc.) or leave the vehicle at a stop point and go to a nearby doctor.

Almost all participating doctors have agreed to see professional drivers without long waits. How nice is that?

The Goodyear LEGO truck eBay auction is scheduled to run for 10 days - from October 19 to 29, 2012. All the money raised will be donated by Goodyear to DocStop.